Author Comments

Space Marines occupy the ridge of a plateau on an alien planet. The Dark Angels lead the charge of a full scale invasion for the Imperium of Man. The oldest chapter of ancient soldiers twisted into fanatical killing machines, devoted to their God Emperor, they are the tip of the spear into this unknown world. Told to hold the line at one of numerous landing positions, the Commander has been informed he is the smallest squad of the armies occupied in this region. A prime target as the first strike from the enemy, but no matter...Six hardened Space Marines were plenty to stop indigenous alien recon.

"Tau..." the Commander muttered. "Where's the sport?"
A space marine manning the Heavy Bolter shifted. No movement over the terrain before him. "I hear these heretics recruit other aliens to join their cause, Commander. It could provide us with a glorious challenge, diversifying our kill score"

The Commander peered over the distance. They had the high ground, and his ancient eyes were assisted by advanced, sensitive prototypes. If there were any doubt they were in danger, this kind of banter would be strictly prohibited. Weighing his mighty hammer on the ground, he spoke. "It's more likely a practice of pathetic desperation, and the Kroot you speak of are a primitive lot. We'll burn them each off this accursed rock. Trophies for the Emperor, all, those cunning creatures..."

"No better than the Eldar, really." another squad mate muttered into his helmet communications.
"It may shock you to learn the extent these aliens resist death in futility." the Commander spat. "Not unlike our Dreadnaughts, some heavy assault attachments of the Tau use armored mech suits. A walking platform of lasguns and missiles...only these scrap insects can FLY up to-"

Suddenly, their acute hearing picks up something in the distance. A sound bouncing off the rocks. They all heard it. Two thumps...another. With a pause, the hardened veterans of war readied themselves, but without a direction to focus on maintained the perimeter they had gained upon the plateau. They would hold this zone at ALL COSTS for the glory of the Emperor.

A colossal scream! That of jet engines and fire, echoing through the landscape, but close! And in an instant, a hulking figure shot upwards from beneath the very cliff they stood upon. The Space Marine's guns readied at the target skyward, into the sun at its back. Missiles screeched and flailed from the target and pounded the ground with mighty punches. Stun rounds! The Commander, blinded. Squad, incapacitated.

The order was given to destroy, and the disheveled Space Marines lifted themselves to open fire. But from thin air, lasers blasted them from all sides.
"Damned cowards are cloaked! No better than the Eldar indeed!" One Marine belted.
"Shoot the source!" The Heavy Bolter began mowing down a patch of blue pulse fire. But the cacophony of noise indicated more were coming. By jetpack, by landing, their numbers grew on the plateau as the electric barks of laser fire smothered each Marine. A heavy thud, and before them stood the only visible target; a tall Tau crisis suit blasting marines in the head at close range with an over sized Ion Cannon.

"Sir!" A Space Marine yelled, "Rifle is broken, this armor is too thick for my knife!"
The stunned Commander reeled. "Take it apart with whatever you got!"
Devoted, the Space Marine, harassed with laser fire, fumbled through a toolkit for a screwdriver, hoping to take it apart plate by plate. The crisis suit merely crushed the fool underfoot.

The Commander still stunned, struggling to reset his optical instruments, is too late and the assault ended too quickly. With every slap of heated light, his Space Marines were rapidly being cooked alive in their suits. Though designed to resist the brutality of the sun, their life systems overloaded and failed. Some collapsed in a heap. Others died standing, propped against the rocks. As the sounds died off, his vision recovered, and there before the Dark Angels commander stood the leader of his enemy.

Rated 5 / 5 stars2013-02-03 05:51:33

Rated 3.5 / 5 stars2012-07-13 23:27:26

Robots and battle good stuff

So These types of pieces are always kinda interesting you never know what you are in store for but with this one you made it interesting, and in some ways it was kind of Unique, but anyways a good piece of art you have here and i am glad to have seen this. Ok so cool "ROBOTS" are always a blast and a whole bunch of fun, and with this piece you have also presented a sort of story with whats going on so that was a plus, the action is there even in just a still piece of art and thats hard to do but thats what i got from it so nice job there, now with this not sure what to suggest to improve on maybe later though. And so My ending experience on this decent art piece was that it brings a good element of visual, there was some nifty design all around and i was generally pleased with all of this, a good art piece indeed, I do hope to see more work from you and from this theme style.

~~THINGS TO IMPROVE ON~~
As for improvments im not too sure but i have suggested a few ideas tips, and some suggestions, maybe they will help but atleast read it and create your own experience and maybe you will come up with you own ideas from it, but regardless the ideas are there for you. Maybe adding a darker backround of sky and such, maybe some more happenings going on in the sky like other distant battles,

Rated 5 / 5 stars2012-05-27 15:27:31

Rated 4.5 / 5 stars2012-04-10 11:46:45

Okay, so the Tau look like they shopped at the same boutique used to sell Storm Trooper Armour in Return of the Jedi and the Dark Angels Green looks a little too Emerald to me, but other than that, the essence of the piece certainly captures the moment well. From the little details, such as the "Temporary Techpriest", inscribed on the tool box, the roll of gaffer tape there and the smoke rising from the barrels, this is clearly something that you've put a lot of thought and effort into.

What really stuns me is that you're written a passage to go with it and I'm struggling to come up with enough words of a review, to compare to what you've written. Did you write the concept first, or draw the image and tell the story around it?

On the hyper-critical side of things, you could have made the background a little more involved, as a misty / cloudy skyline just doesn't do much, compared to the high levels of detail in the rest of the image. A distinct lack of blood was the other thing, as even though Space Marines wear this fantastic armour, they still technically have blood, or blood like fluids pumped around their systems, so losing it would look pretty cool, as well as dismemberment, by cannon fire, or just tearing from the mech, in front of the Commander.

Clearly a subject that you have a passion for, keep up the great work!

I had considered poolings of blood beneath the space marines at one point, but I've already forgotten why I didn't do it; the black smudged around the Crisis Suit's foot was supposed to be a guide for the blood kicked up from stomping the marine underfoot.

What had started when I roughed this was just a Crisis Suit having a sort of a standoff with a Space Marine...then that became a Crisis Suit with his army behind him...then I thought, "Well, surely the Space Marine wouldn't be alone, so I gotta include them somehow." and what happened was a scene played out in my head where the Space Marines were either in midbattle or about to lose, and it would be a lone badass about to avenge the hell out of his fallen brothers.

So in short, the drawing came first, and before it was completed, I opened up the submit Art Portal page, and started typing. A couple of dozen edits later so I could fit the damn thing in the alotted "Author's Comments" section, and I added a few details to the work in progress to make it better match the story I impatiently jotted down. The last two details being the cloaked Stealth Suits and the two "stun missiles" sticking out of the ground.

I really do need to start drawing more original work, but the lore behind 40K is an interesting one. If I were to do it again, I'm thinking of doing Necrons next. :P

Much appreciated for the review! It's not the word count that makes it a good review, it's that it's honest, critical, and helpful...so thanks again, Coop!

Rated 5 / 5 stars2012-04-09 17:59:45

This picture almost makes me regret I never was too interested in Warhammer 40k. Neither the Tabletop nor any other stuff from that Universe.

This picture looks amazing. I like just about everything about it. The sky looks pretty cool and I also like that mountain in the background.

The only thing I can criticise on (and I'm really nitpicking here): The robot in the center of the image looks a bit too clean. I think there should be some scratches or other marks on the robot that indicate that it was fighting a battle just a second ago.